Knight Squadron: The Battle of Endor
by DayDream Jedi
Summary: The time for the final offensive against the Empire has come. The Imperials have a new Death Star that needs wrecking and the starfighter pilots of the Rebellion have answered the call. Book 3 in the Knight Squadron series.
1. Introduction

**STAR**

**WARS**

**X-WING KNIGHT SQUADRON **  
**THE BATTLE OF ENDOR**

_**Dramatis Personae**_

_The Knights_

Captain Aidan Hunter-Knight Leader (human male from Avalon)

Commander Ru Murleen-Knight Two (Human female from Commenor)

Commander Merrick Sims-Knight Three (Human male from Tanaab)

Ixgil-Knight Four (Duros male from Duro)

Lieutenant Halin Yuy-Knight Five (Human male from ?)

Lieutenant Triton Doran-Knight Six (Human male from ?)

Lieutenant Duo Maxwell-Knight Seven (Human male from Ord Mantell)

Lieutenant Kellis Wessiri-Knight Eight (Human male from Coruscant) Lieutenant Chang-Knight Nine (Human male from Chiana II)

Lieutenant Lara Petothel-Knight Ten (Human female from Coruscant)

Sovach "Heavyarms"-Knight Eleven (Wookie male from Kashyyyk)

Xandris-Knight Twelve (Faleen female from Faleen)

Arn Grimbo-Head Mechanic (Human male from Sluis Van)

Ecks (Aidan's R2 astromech)

Blue (Ru's R2 astromech

Zero (Halin's R2 astromech)

Buddy (Duo's R5 astromech)

Heavy (Triton's R5 astromech)

Sandrock (Kellis' R3 astromech)

_**Rebel Alliance**_

Mon Mothma (Human female from Chandrilla)

Admiral Ackbar (Mon Calamari male from Mon Calamari)

General Crix Madine (Human male from Corellia)

General Carlist Riekken (Human male from Alderaan)

General Lando Calrissian-Gold Leader (Human male from Bespin)

General Han Solo (Human male from Corellia)

Chewbacca (Wookie male from Kashyyyk)

Commander Luke Skywalker (Human male from Tatooine)

Princess Leia Organa (Human female from Alderaan)

Captain Wedge Antilles-Red Leader (Human male from Corellia)

Commander Arvel Crynyd-Green Leader (Human male from Alderaan)

Major Horton Salm-Grey Leader (Human male from Churba)

Captain Ten Numb-Blue Leader (Sullustan male from Sullust)

Colonel Jake Farrell- Vanguard Leader (Human male from Rental IV)

Lieutenant Tycho Celchu-Green Three (Human male from Alderaan)

Lieutenant Wes Janson-Red Five (Human male from Tanaab)

Lieutenant Derek "Hobbie" Klivian-Red Five (Human male from Raltiir)

Captain Kasan Moor-Red Six (Human female from Alderaan)

_Galactic Empire_

Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious (Human male from Naboo)

Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker (Human male from Tatooine)

Moff Jerjerrrod (Human male from Coruscant)

Admiral Firmus Piett-Master of the _Executor_ (Human male from Axxila)

Commander Rexler Brath-Onyx Leader (Human male from Corellia)

Baron/Colonel Soontir Fel-181st/Alpha Leader (Human male from Corellia)

Major Turr Phenir-181st/Gamma Leader (Human male from Coruscant)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

**STAR **

**WARS**

**The Galactic Civil War between the REBEL ALLIANCE and the GALACTIC EMPIRE has reached a critical breaking point, as the Knight Squadron receives orders to rendezvous with the Alliance fleet at Sullust.**

**Little do they know that the Empire has secretly been constructing a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star.**

**When completed, this ultimate weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy…**


	2. Chapter 1

**1**

Space was filled with explosions and laser blasts as a green and black-striped X-Wing dove over the hull of bulk freighter. Inside the cockpit, pilot Aidan Hunter grimaced as he watched the battle raging around the convoy that Knight Squadron and Y-Wing White Squadron had been escorting to Sullust to rendezvous with the Rebel Fleet. To their annoyance, they had been jumped by an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. Looking something akin to Star Destroyers, Interdictors were smaller and were distinguished by the quartet of gravity well generators spaced along its triangular hull. Thankfully, this particular cruiser only carried two squadrons of TIE fighters that were now harassing the fighters and convoy ships.

"This is ridiculous! Knight Squadron, sound off and form up! Start flying like you were trained!" Aidan yelled over the comm.

"This is Knight Two off your starboard," answered a familiar voice. Aidan turned to the right and noticed the Blue and red-striped X-Wing of his XO Ru Murleen pulling up alongside.

"This is Knight Three flying toward you," answered Cmdr. Merrick Sims.

"Knight Four off your port stern," answered Ixgil, a new pilot in the squadron.

"Knight Five standing by," said Halin Yuy.

"Knight Six above you," announced Triton Doran.

"Knight Seven standing by," said Duo Maxwell.

"Knight Eight standing by," said Kellis Wessiri.

"Knight Nine standing by," said Chang.

"Knight Ten, standing by," said Lara Petothel

"Rargh!" roared Sovach from his cockpit, which the other pilots' computers translated as, Knight Eleven standing by.

"Knight Twelve standing by," said a sultry female voice that belonged to Xandris, another new pilot.

Taking a moment to make sure that his squadron was all there, Aidan looked out across the convoy at the TIE fighters dogfighting with the Y-Wings.

"Hang on White Squadron we're coming in!" he said. As one the X-Wings dove toward the TIEs. The Knights tore into the melee, lasers shredding eyeballs. There was a cheer over the comm. from the beleaguered Y-Wing pilots as the Knights scattered the remaining eyeballs like billiards.

"Knight Leader, this is White Leader. If you can handle the remaining TIEs, we'll try and drive off the Interdictor _Warden."_ However, as soon as White Leader said this, another White Squadron pilot broke in.

"Contact! Large contact coming out of hyperspace! Bearing 227 mark six!"

Soaring over a Blockade Runner, Aidan and his flight looked towards the direction that the pilot had indicated as a vast, dagger-shaped hull burst out of hyperspace. As the shape resolved itself, the blood that had been roaring through Aidan's veins froze into ice.

"Oh stang…" he whispered, "A Super Star Destroyer."

All of 12,800 meters in length and possessing enough weaponry to annihilate an entire planet's surface by itself, the SSD terrified planets beyond the capability for resistance. This also happened to include Rebel combat units. The lead ship of the class, the _Executor_ turned a Rebel outpost into black glass and slag on its first mission without having to launch its fighters. It then arrived at Yavin to harray the evacuating rebels. Well did Aidan remember that as he had been there, flying with the surviving pilots of Yavin Base. And now a Super Star Destroyer had arrived here of all places. For a moment, Aidan just stared at the impossibly huge dagger-shaped ship hanging 500 kilometers from the convoy. Then his brain went back into combat mode and he began to formulate a plan. If they didn't take out that Interdictor, the SSD could chew them up at its leisure.

"Executor-class Star Destroyer _Aggressor_ identified," announced a tremulous voice.

"Detecting fighter launch!" came the voice of another White Squadron pilot, "Reading six eyeball squads, two squint squads, two bright squads, and two dupe squads." Said another pilot.

One hundred forty-four fighters. More than enough to chew the convoy to pieces without the Aggressor even firing a shot. Aidan swung his X-Wing around to face the Interdictor.

"White Leader, _Golden Way_, listen up! If we want to get out of here with our lives, we need to take out the _Warden_. Knights, we'll torp the cruiser first and soften up the remaining fighters. Whites, you finish what we start with torps and ion cannons. All convoy ships, you can take some shots at the warden if you want, but other than that ignore it and head out! Everyone understand?" A chorus of acknowledgments flashed across his screen as Aidan led the twelve X-Wings of Knight Squadron on a run towards the Warden. As they approached, the cruiser began firing its turbolasers at the fighters in an effort to destroy them before they could fire their proton torpedoes.

"Shields double-front! Transfer laser power to shields," said Aidan as he juked and jinked his fighter to dodge the turbolaser blasts. His R2 astromech, R2-X2 or Ecks, squealed in protest.

"Hey if you didn't want to come you could've stayed behind," he remonstrated.

The Knights drew closer to the Interdictor, its turbolasers, meant for capital ship battles, not able to accurately target the oncoming X-Wings.

"Ecks, link the others targeting computers to mine," said Aidan.

Ecks tootled an acknowledgement and Aidan's targeting screen lit up, indicating the links with the eleven other fighters.

"Knights spread out and prepare to fire!"

The other starfighters moved away from Aidan, making it even harder for the cruiser's gunners to target them. Centering his HUD on a spot between the four gravity well domes, Aidan waited as the targeting computer beeped, locking onto the target. As soon as it turned red and the tone became steady, he pushed the thumb trigger for his torpedoes. At the same time he said, "Fire!"

The comm. came alive with fire reports as 24 torpedoes streaked out across space and slammed into he Warden's shields. The shields flared bright and then collapsed the reactor unable to stand up to the strain of powering the gravity wells and the impact of the torpedoes. The Knights skimmed over the surface of the _Warden_ peppering its guns with laser blasts, however the real crushing blow was yet to come. The Warden's gunners had been so busy aiming at the Knights, they had forgotten the Y-Wings. The Y-Wings may have been old and slow, but they could still pack a punch. Two-dozen more torpedoes flew out from White Squadron and impacted on the domes, stitching them with bright explosions. Another advantage of being slower than the Knights was that the Whites were able to launch a second salvo and follow it up with their ion cannons. As if that weren't enough, some of the freighters, mostly the Corellian YT transports, launched concussion missiles at the _Warden_.

Aidan rolled over at stared up through his canopy at the blackened top hull of the Warden. Smirking he swung his fighter around and joined up with the other Knights.

"Gravity wells are down Captain. We can go to hyperspace as soon as the convoy is clear," said Ru Murleen.

"Waiting on your orders Captain Tang," said Aidan to the captain of the freighter _Golden Way_, lead ship of the convoy. Taking a moment to gaze back at the imposing form of the _Aggressor_, Aidan smiled to himself.

"Too little too late _Aggressor_."

"All craft, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark," came Captain Tang's voice, "3, 2, 1, jump!" Aidan pulled back on the lever on the top-left of his console and the stars lengthened into white hot lines and then the swirling tunnel of hyperspace swallowed him, the Knights, the Y-Wings, and the convoy just as the TIE fighters from the _Aggressor_ reached them.


	3. Chapter 2

**2**

Hours later, after three hyperspace jumps to make sure that the _Terror_ wasn't following them, the convoy and its starfighter escorts arrived in the fringes of the Sullust system. Spread before them was the largest massed Alliance fleet in the history of the Rebellion. Whistles and sounds of admiration could be heard on the comm.

"I knew that a call was put out, but I didn't know how extensive it was," murmured Aidan. A dozen Mon Calamari cruisers formed the core of the fleet. The largest of these was the _Home One_. 3,800 meters long and able to carry 10 squadrons of starfighters, it was the pride of the Rebel Alliance fleet. There were a few Dreadnoughts, also known as Rebel assault frigates, along with a couple of Carrack cruisers. Nebulon-B frigates and Corellian corvettes formed the rest of the vanguard. A single Lancer-class anti-starfighter frigate hung in formation with the other frigates and corvettes. A smattering of armed freighters also mixed with the cruisers. As the Knights looked on, a Mon Cal cruiser moved forward enough to reveal, in pride of place, three Star Destroyers. A Victory-class, an ancient Clone Wars-era Venator-class, and the Imperial Star Destroyer _Alliance_ that the Knights had helped liberate from the Imperials less than a year ago.

"Something's up," said Duo Maxwell from his black X-Wing, "There is no way that the High Command would risk gathering this many ships together, this deep in Imp space. Something's way wrong with this picture."

"I'm sure Command will tell us what's going on when we board the command ship," said Aidan as they closed in on the Home One, the flagship of the fleet.

-Knight Squadron-

As soon as he climbed down from his X-Wing Aidan grinned as he spotted someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Wedge! Wedge Antilles!" he cried. Wedge turned and jogged over to where Aidan was standing at the base of his fighter and the two embraced briefly, after all they were men.

"Whooo! Looks like our Captain's found love at last!" came the voice of Duo Maxwell from his X-Wing.

"Keep it up Lieutenant and I'll have you spaced to fight the Imps with your pilot suit and your big mouth!" snarled Aidan.

"So you found yourself a Wes Janson as well? Force, let's hope that they never meet or we'll all suffer for it," moaned Wedge.

"Yes. So how're the Rogues? Is it true Command had you guys break up?"

"Yes, but there'll be time for that later," aid Wedge as Ru and Simms ducked under the wing of Aidan's X-Wing, "Now's the time for settling in and getting reacquainted." As Wedge greeted Ru and Sims, Aidan cupped his hands and yelled his pilots who were beginning to disperse across the busy and crowded hangar bay.

"Knights, get your gear stowed and get some rest! I get the feeling that we're all gonna need it.

-Knight Squadron-

The quarters assigned to Knight Squadron on _Home One_ were communal so the pilots were forced to unpack together, a situation that lent itself to stubbed toes and hands and not enough free space to go around. Sovach roared as Ixgil accidentally kicked him on his way past.

"Heavyarms says watch where you're going and that he hates this bed," said Duo who had somehow, somewhere learned to understand Sovach's native tongue. Indeed the poor Wookie's feet stuck about six inches over the end of his assigned bunk.

"A ship this big, they should be able give us paired quarters at least," said Xandris, a slight hiss in her voice.

"Yeah! Remember the _Alliance_?' said Kellis Wessiri, speaking of the Imperial mk. II Star Destroyer they had helped liberate from the Imps and then had bunked on for a couple of months as it had run missions behind enemy lines.

"Now that was living in luxury! A lot better than the hovel I had back on Ord Mantell," commented Duo.

"What I want to know is what the Alliance High Command is doing with this many ships here? What are they planning?" asked Lara, shaking loose her midnight-black hair from the ponytail she wore it in when she was flying. Lara had defected to the Alliance during the course of the Knights' adventures onboard the Alliance.

"I'm tellin' ya, we're going after Coruscant!" said Duo.

"And I think that you haven't had enough sleep lately," said Triton from his bunk directly across from the braided pilot, "You obviously aren't thinking straight."

"No seriously! It's the only logical answer as to why Command has built up such a large force."

"Maxwell using logic? May the Force have mercy on us all," snorted Chang derisively.

"Okay then, listen to this. The Imps are spread across the galaxy looking for us right? So Command decides that this is a perfect time to assault a high profile target? And what target is more high profile and important to the freedom of the galaxy than Coruscant itself?"

"Your theory is good, but it lacks several important pieces of information," said Halin, the first time he'd spoken since they began their convoy escort mission.

"Oh? Then why don't you enlighten us," grinned Duo.

"First off, the sector fleet for Coruscant consists of 57 Impstars, reportedly led by a Super Impstar. That's more firepower than this fleet could hope to bring, even if every ship in this fleet was a Mon Cal cruiser. You also forgot the Golan defense platforms with their proton torpedo launchers and the planetary shields, which, by the way, are strong enough to deflect ANY bombardment. In short, this fleet would be overwhelmed long before the Coruscant defense fleet arrived."

"Okay okay, we get your point. But if we're not going after Coruscant, what else is there? Corellia? Fondor? Kaut? Sluis Van?" asked Duo.

"My guess is that the Empire's built another Death Star and we're going to destroy it," Halin said simply. Thick silence descended on the entire group. Even talkative and flirtatious Xandris was staring at Halin in shock.

"Whoa, don't even joke about that," Duo half-whispered.

"For all our sakes I really hope I'm wrong about it," said Halin.

-Knight Squadron-

The next morning found Aidan catching up to Wedge just outside of the briefing room.

"Did you get the message as well?' he asked by way of greeting.

"Yeah," said Wedge simply.

"I can't believe it! How could the Empire build another Death Star so soon? And why didn't Intelligence find out about this sooner?"

"Well we didn't find out about the original Death Star until it was almost too late," said Wedge, "I suppose you can thank Ysanne Isard for that." Aidan felt a lurch in his stomach at the mention of the feared Director of Imperial Intelligence. A moment later it was driven out of his mind as he and Wedge entered the briefing room. Dozens of Rebel officers and leaders milled about, mostly Alliance brass and squadron leaders. Aidan recognized Mon Mothma one of the leaders of the Alliance and Leia Organa. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were also present, seated close to the large holoprojector in the center, accompanied by the wookie Chewbacca. He also recognized several Generals such as Riekken and Madine, as well as Admiral Ackbar, one of the Rebellions first legitimate admirals. He also recognized a familiar face that he hadn't seen in many years.

"Commander? Commander Farrell is that you?" The man he was talking to turned and gave Aidan a once over then cracked a tight-lipped grin

"Rookie One, I didn't expect to see you here, though I'm not surprised after what you pulled. Liberating Star Destroyers lends itself well to your reputation," said Commander Farrell in a rough voice. Farrell was a middle-aged man with graying, black hair and an air of stern resolve about him. He had served in the final battles of the Clone Wars and had served the Empire loyally until certain distasteful missions forced him to defect. Turning back to Wedge Aidan said, "Commander Farrell was one of my instructors just before I was assigned to Blue Squadron."

"Actually it's Colonel Farrell now," remarked Farrell.

As they sat down with the Colonel to await the start of the briefing on the Death Star situation, snatches of other conversations drifted over to them.

"Well look at you, a General!" said Han Solo to Lando Calrissian. Taking in the dark-skinned mans new uniform.

"Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab," said Lando with a knowing grin.

"Well don't look at me pal. I just said that you were a fair pilot. I didn't know that they were looking for someone to lead this crazy attack."

"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to do it."

"Well who says they didn't but I ain't crazy. You're the respectable one remember?" At that moment a chime sounded indicating the start of the briefing.

"Let's see what they have to say about this whole Death Star thing," murmured Aidan as Mon Mothma stepped forward.

"The Emperor's made a critical error and the time for our attack has come. The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoint the exact location of his new battle station," she said as a holoprojector in the center of the briefing table activated, a hologram of a forest planet and the orbiting Death Star appearing directly in the center, "We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected. But most important of all… we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of construction of this Death Star. Many Bothans died to bring us the information," she said with grave solemnity, the look in her eyes seeming to dare anyone to make light of the Bothans' sacrifice.

Stepping back from the table she gestured to one of the Mon Cal officers that had been standing off to the side.

"Admiral Ackbar please."

The orange-skinned Mon Calamari admiral was dressed in a white uniform that looked to be tailored specifically for the officers of the Mon Cal warships.

"You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems of this Death Star are not operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield which is generated from the nearby Endor moon." As he said this, the hologram showed a yellow stream of energy project up from the moon's surface and envelop the battle station.

"The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted," he said as the holo zoomed to focus on the Death Star itself, "Once the shield is down our cruisers will create a perimeter while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor." As he finished, a blue dot flew through the station and into its central core. To add extra emphasis the Admiral shut off the holo just as the dot reached the center. Aidan leaned over to Wedge.

"As if the trench run was bad enough! Now they want us to fly inside that thing? Have they taken complete leave of their senses?" he whispered fiercely.

"Shh," hushed Wedge.

"General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack," said Ackbar gesturing towards Lando.

"Good luck," said Han cynically, " you're gonna need it."

"General Madine," said Ackbar gesturing towards the General who stepped forward smartly.

"We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator." As the General said this murmurs began to break out amongst the crowd.

"Sounds dangerous," commented C-3PO.

"Wonder who they found to pull that off?' asked Leia. She got her answer a second later as Madine said, 'General Solo? Is your strike team assembled?"

"Han Solo, a general?" asked Farrel quietly, "This is interesting."

"Uh, my team's ready but I don't have a command crew for the shuttle yet."

"Rargh!" said Chewbacca.

"It's gonna be rough pal, I didn't wanna speak for ya," responded Han. At another emphatic roar from the wookie, Han turned to General Madine with his famous Solo Grin fixed in place.

"That's one."

"General," spoke up Leia, "count me in."

"I'm with you too," called out a voice from the briefing room entrance.

"Hey, it's Luke!" said Aidan nudging Wedge. Indeed, Luke Skywalker, dressed in a black tunic, walked down the steps and embraced Leia as Han and Chewie got up to greet their old friend.

"I'd say that things are about to get very interesting," said Wedge with a grin. When the ruckus from Luke's arrival quieted down, General Madine continued.

"Our starfighters will be divided into five fighter wings. X-Wing Red Group, Y-Wing Grey Group, A-Wing Green Group, B-Wing and X-Wing Blue Group, and Gold Group led by General Calrissian. Additional starfighters will stay behind to safeguard the fleet. Any questions? No? Then report to your duty stations. May the Force be with us all.


	4. Chapter 3

**3**

Aidan marched down the corridor on _Home One _where his squadron's quarters were located to tell them the news. He wondered how they'd react, although he was pretty sure he knew. But it wasn't every day that you were going to tell your squad-mates that they were going to have to fight a Death Star. Strangely enough, three members of Knight Squadron had been at Yavin and assaulted the first Death Star. Himself, Commander Murleen and Commander Simms. At the time Aidan had been a member of X-Wing Blue Squadron, flying under the call sign Blue Three. Blue Squadron only had six fighters to fly in that engagement; Blue Six had been lost to turbolaser fire and Blue Five got downed by TIEs. He remembered that Capt. Simms had also had to pull out due to battle damage from a turbolaser blast. After that, Ru, Flight Officer Harris (Blue Four) and himself had flown into the trench alongside Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter. Harris had been claimed by Darth Vader first. Ru and Wedge had been forced to pull out. Vader then gunned down Biggs leaving only Aidan and Luke in the trench. Thinking of that still gave Aidan chills. If Han Solo and the _Millennium Falcon _hadn't arrived when they did he and Luke probably would be space debris.

Walking through the arched doorway into the Knights' quarters Aidan saw that they had all gathered together to hear what he had to say about the briefing. He told them everything, about the Death Star and the almost suicidal plan to destroy it. After he finished there was long, tense silence. And then it was broken by, as Aidan had thought it would be, Duo Maxwell.

"Emperor's Black Bones! Halin damn you, you were right! I owe you twenty!"

That brought a relieved smattering of laughter from the pilots and then Ru spoke up.

"Let me get this straight. They want us to actually fly _inside _the Death Star, navigate through its superstructure and then torpedo the main reactor and get out _before _it explodes?"

"That about sums it up Commander," said Aidan.

"I don't about you guys but I'm in. A merry chase through the Death Star sounds great," chimed in Duo.

The other pilots cast Duo disparaging looks and a couple threw some paper cups at him. Aidan held out his hands to order silence.

"Quiet! Look, I'm not gonna give you some pretty, patriotic speech because frankly I'm not very good at them and I respect you all too much as pilots and friends to make you suffer that indignity. What I will say is that if it is my doom to have to make a suicide run into a moon-sized space station…" he paused looking around at the eleven other Knights solemnly, "then I could think of no finer group of pilots to be flying with. I'm very proud of you all. Over the last year we've helped to steal a Star Destroyer from the Empire and we helped put a stop to their Phantom fighter program. You know, when I first put this squadron together back on Kollador Base, I sorta had this idea in my head that I could make a better fighter squadron than Rogue Squadron. Well, I've come to realize that…we are _so _much better than the Rogues!" This earned him shouts of approval.

"We're Knight Squadron and we've built our own legacy."

Over the clapping and cheering he said, "Okay speech over. Now General Solo's commandos will be leaving in a few hours for their part of the mission. After that we'll only have a few days before we have to go as well, so I suggest you all get your affairs in order and get some sim time in. Do whatever you need to make yourselves as ready as possible because I think that it would be very good for our legacy if Knight Squadron could add a Death Star silhouette to our hulls, don't you think?" he said with a rakish grin.


	5. Chapter 4

**4**

Ru Murleen found her CO in _Home One's _Officers cafeteria, nursing a fizzy drink. Sliding into a seat behind him she said, "I thought you didn't drink."

"I don't. Alcohol makes me sick not drunk. Besides I can be perfectly melancholy on my own."

"You're not getting pre-battle jitters on us Captain?" she grinned. Aidan managed a grin of his own.

"It's not that. It's just…I remember how many good pilots we lost to the last Death Star. How many we've lost since. And I get to thinking, how many are we going to lose this time? Will it be Commander Simms? You? Me?"

He shifted in his chair so that he could look her in the eyes.

"I've watched dozens of pilots die around me. I keep having this thought in the back of my head that, maybe it'll be my turn soon. I mean besides dying I could end up crippled for life. Ours is not a profession that lends itself to health or long life. Sometimes I step back from all this and ask myself, what am I doing here? I begin to question my dedication to the Alliance. You know that my home world is on the edge of known space. Neither the Old Republic nor the Empire have ever been particularly interested in Avalon. I got here because I stowed away on one of the few ships that came to our planet. I was so bright eyed and eager when I began my training as a pilot. I mean I had seen the holos that the Alliance had put out about the Empire. But even back then I had some doubts, especially after the Tatooine mission."

Ru frowned, remembering that mission that Blue Squadron had undertaken just prior to the Battle of Yavin. They'd responded to a distress call from Anchorhead base on Tatooine, which was being assaulted by a Star Destroyer. Blue Squadron had been forced to engage the Destroyer and it had cost them six good pilots, three more of which died at Yavin.

"What are you saying?" she asked, concern laced within her voice as she leaned closer to him.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never been more committed than I am now. When we flew at Yavin and I saw the Death Star up close, saw the lengths the Empire was willing to go to keep control, something inside me just gave way. I believe now more than ever before that any so-called Empire that could even _conceive _of a weapon like the Death Star doesn't deserve to be in charge of the galaxy. The mere fact that they would rebuild the Death Star is just one more nail in their collective coffin"

Ru smiled, a smile that lit up her whole face.

"I'm glad you think that."

"Yeah. I mean, who knows, if we don't destroy this Death Star it might show up at Avalon one day."

"And that's why we are fighting the Empire now."

"Exactly."

Ru grinned slyly at Aidan. "Where you looking for someone to talk to or were you just hoping that I would come by?"

"Not really. But I do seem to be able to talk to you easier than anyone, uh, else, umm." Just then a new voice broke into their conversation. Aidan wasn't entirely disappointed; Ru's face had been getting a little too close for comfort.

"Are we interrupting something?" said Lieutenant Wes Janson who, along with Wedge Antilles, Hobbie Klivian, and Tycho Celchu, had just strolled into the tapcaf. Aidan frowned at Janson.

"Go away Janson, it's too early in the evening to have to deal with you. And that goes for the rest of you as well," he said nodding at his former Rogue Squadron comrades.

"I hope that doesn't include me as well," came a new voice from the direction of the door. The others turned around and saw Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Chewbacca walking towards them.

"Of course not Luke," said Aidan, "I was referring to Janson and his merry band of reprobates."

Tycho grimaced. "Any band or squadron under Wes' leadership would suffer chronic mutiny."

Janson mimed having been shot in the heart. Aidan and the others just shook their heads.

-Knight Squadron-

After drinks were ordered and the group of Rebel heroes was seated around a table the conversations resumed.

"Our mission is leaving soon," explained Han, "We just thought we'd come into the mess and grab a bite to eat before we go. As you can see, Chewie here'll probably die of hunger 'cause all we've got to eat will be mission rations and local fare."

Chewbacca let out a roar of what sounded like indignation as everyone else chuckled.

"Wedge did I hear right that that they won't be having the Rogues flying with the fleet?" asked Aidan.

"In a sense they will be. We've just been split up into different squadrons. Hobbie, Janson, myself are still in Rogue Squadron although its been renamed Red Squadron for this attack. I'm Red Leader, Hobbie is Red Two, and Janson is Red Five."

"I'll be flying an A-Wing in Green Squadron as Green Three," said Tycho.

"Figures. X-Wings are just too slow for us speed demons eh Celchu?" said Ru with a knowing grin that Tycho returned along with guffaws from Janson.

"Hey, you all just be careful out there okay?" said Han, "We want to see you down on Endor to celebrate."

"I'll drink to that," said Aidan as he lifted up his glass.

"And too victory over the Death Star and the Empire," chimed in Leia.

They raised their glasses and brought them together and then drank deeply, savoring the taste of impending victory.


	6. Chapter 5

**5**

Only a couple of hours later, the shuttle _Tydirium _departed _Home One _carrying the Heroes of Yavin and the commandoes. If all went according to plan, when the Rebel fleet came out of hyperspace a couple of days from now, they would find a defenseless Death Star. An atmosphere of tension and anticipation fell over the fleet, from the Alliance leadership right down to the noncom techs.

Strolling into Knight Squadron's quarters, Duo found Kellis seated before a holorecorder.

"Hopefully this letter will never have to be sent to you and the girls, but if it is… well I've already said what I wanted to say. Take care and keep safe. I love you…dad."

"Recording a message to home?" asked Duo.

"Yes I am. Whether anyone will be able to get onto Coruscant, let alone to the desk of my father has yet to be seen," replied Kellis turning away from the recorder.

"I thought you and your father were uh, divided about the war?" asked Duo, raking an awkward hand through his long hair.

"We are. But you don't think I'm so bitter that I would deny my family a last message? I have eight sisters living back home as well you know."

"So how come you and your father fell apart? Is he a patriot or something?"

"No, he knows that Palpatine is a dictator, he just doesn't know the full story. We lived on Coruscant and not a lot of the truth of what the Empire does filters down to Imperial Center. I did something that father never did. I dug deeper and found out what really goes on in the galaxy. When I showed what I found to my father he sympathized with my feelings but he told me that joining up with the Rebel Alliance wasn't the solution. He said that violence doesn't solve anything!"

Duo snorted loudly at that.

"I'd be dead and buried if that's the excuse I tried to use on Stormtroopers back on Ord Mantell."

"Right. Father's a fool but a naïve fool. I don't think that he wants to acknowledge what the Empire's really done because that would mean that the family company has helped the Empire by supplying it. But even though we parted on bad terms doesn't mean I've severed all ties with my family."

"Well I wouldn't know anything about family ties, never had a real family that I can remember, 'cept you guys," said Duo grinning, "So you make sure that you don't get killed out there wingman 'cause I want you to one day introduce me to those hot sisters of yours. And that cousin who lives on Corellia! What was her name? Iella?"

"Sure I'd introduce you to Iella. Then I'd let Diric and Corran punch your lights out."

"Who're they?"

"Her husband and her CorSec partner respectively."

"Married? Dammit, what about your sisters?"

Kellis chucked a stylus at Duo.

"I wouldn't let you near them with a ten meter nerf prod."

-Knight Squadron-

The hour had at last arrived. The general call to action stations had gone out and the starfighter pilots of the _Home One _flooded into the locker rooms to put on their pilot suits. Imperial pilots often made fun of the usually eye hurting shades of colors the rebels dressed in. On the other hand TIEs possessed no ejection capability usually and when a Rebel pilot ejects, he or she wishes to be seen before they can freeze to death.

Sitting on a bench in the locker room, reclined in an attitude akin to prayer, Aidan tried to absorb as much calm as he could before the coming battle. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up into the face of his wingman Ru Murleen.

"Time to go," she said. He nodded and picked up the last items he needed to put on, his life support control box and his helmet. He regarded the helmet briefly. He had worn it since before Yavin and d had always like its design, plain white with two plain, green Rebel crests on the forehead. Perhaps after this battle he would change the design a bit.

Aidan expertly slipped the control box on and connected it to his suit. By then he and Ru had joined the throng of pilots, techs and soldiers headed for the hangar bays. As they entered the hangar bay, Aidan heard and felt the familiar environment around him, almost as familiar as home. Hangars on big ships tended to be cold places, as the magcon fields that kept precious atmosphere inside didn't do a very good job of keeping in heat. This particular hangar was home to five squadrons of fighters, 2 X-Wing, 1 Y-Wing, 1 A-Wing, and 1 B-Wing squadron respectively. Jogging over to his fighter he spotted Wedge and Janson climbing aboard their X-Wings.

"Hey Wedge! Last one to kill a bad guy buys the drinks when we get back!" he shouted.

"Sounds good to me! You better make sure you do come back then!"

"Same to you!"

It was a rejoinder they'd all shared countless times before battle, a way of emotionally reassuring their comrades.

Aidan and Ru split up as they reached their own fighters. One of the things Aidan had learned during his time as a pilot, first in Blue Squadron, the Rogue, was that should always try give your fighter a once over. After walking around the X-Wing, he briefly ran his hand along one of the stripes on the side of the fuselage. His X-Wing was still painted in the style he had chose when Knight Squadron had become official, dark green with black stripes and trim. The green color had been a nod to the fact that as a training squadron, the Knights had been designated Green Squadron.

Satisfied with his walk around he jumped up the ladder that was mounted to the left side of the cockpit, stopping on the edge to regard his green, silver and white astromech R2-X2.

"You ready for this Ecks? This is gonna be a rough one." The astromech tootled back a triumphant sounding message.

"Good," said Aidan slipping down into the cockpit.

A few fighters over Ru and Commander Simms saluted each other as they climbed into their X-Wings. Halin Yuy and Triton Doran shook hands as was their custom before they boarded their fighters.

"Hey Grimbo! How about you touch up the paint on my X-Wing when I get back?" Duo yelled to the Knights' head mechanic Arn Grimbo, "It's starting to look kinda shabby!" Duo's X-Wing's all black paint job was an unusual point of pride for the pilot.

"If I had my way, those fighters would never leave the blasted hangar after all the wear and tear you put them through!" Grimbo shouted back. He sounded angry but his face was split into a wide grin.

Kellis Wessiri paused for a moment in his power up checklist to look at the small flimsiplast photograph of his family. After staring at for several seconds he quietly stuck to the top right edge of his control console as he had always done.

In his cockpit, Chang sat with his head bowed in an attitude of prayer. A tech that was finishing preparations on Chang's X-Wing reached over and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"It is the custom of my people to always offer a prayer before entering battle," he said with his eyes still closed. The tech nodded respectively.

"May the Force be with you Lieutenant," said the tech as he slid back down the ladder. Chang smirked.

"We shall see."

After Aidan had put his helmet on, he began his X-Wing's power up procedure. Al around other pilots were doing the same and Aidan had grown so accustomed to the different sounds that each of the fighters made that he could tell them apart without looking. As his cockpit canopy closed around him he could see the techs jogging back through the doors of the hangar, not wanting to be present when the fighters started up their main engines. Aidan flicked on his repulsorlifts and eased back on the stick gently, raising his fighter a meter off the deck. He then punched the button that would retract his landing struts. When given the go ahead, he flicked the switches which ignited his craft's powerful Incom 4L4 fusial thrust engines. The powerful drives sent a familiar vibration through Aidan's pilot couch. He punched a button on his comm. console and announced, "Knight Leader has four good starts and is ready to fly." Aidan had divided the comm. channel buttons on his board for five different channels. The first was for One Flight, the second was the squadron channel, the third was Red Group's channel, the fourth was the starfighter fleet channel, and the fifth was the fleet channel.

One by one, the pilots checked in until the starfighter controller announced that all fighters were ready for launch. The _Millennium Falcon, _its sublight drives glowing blue-white, lead the formation of fighters out of the hangar bay.

"All right Knights, let's show 'em how to do this," said Aidan as he positioned his fighter for launch. With the X-Wing pointing towards space, Aidan ratcheted the throttle up to 1/4, cut out his repulsorlifts and shot out into space.

Starfighters boiled up and out from the sides of the cruisers like a cloud of insects, flying in long, sinuous lines of threes and fours until they merged above the center of the fleet, forming into larger, thicker line divided by group. With the _Millennium Falcon_ in the lead, the long line of starfighters, 360 strong, spiraled to the rear of the fleet and then began to fly through it, passing the various MonCal cruisers, frigates and corvettes in an impressive display of piloting. The Knights were easily one of the more recognizable squadrons due to their multi-colored X-Wings. As they flew ahead of the fleet, the massive fighter group reformed into a larger arrowhead-shaped formation with each fighter wing forming its own arrowhead with all the wings forming the large arrow.

Aboard the _Falcon _General Lando Calrissian opened a channel to Admiral Ackbar on _Home One. _

"Admiral, we're in position. All fighters accounted for."

One _Home One_'s bridge, Ackbar adjust his command chair so that he could look out the large bridge viewport.

"Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates."

On the _Falcon_, Lando's copilot, the Sullustan Nien Nunb, chattered a question to him in his native language.

"Don't worry," Lando responded, "My friend's down there. He'll have that shield down on time." Turning back to the controls Lando couldn't help but mutter, "Or this'll be the shortest offensive of all time."

"All craft, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark," came the Admiral's voice over the comm.

"All right. Standby," replied Lando, "starfighters, hyper jump in three, two one…jump!" said Lando as he pulled back on the _Falcon_'s hyperdrive motivator actuator. The stars elongated into thousands of streaks of light and then snapped into a swirling tunnel. From an outside observer's point of view, the starfighter's engines flashed and then they leapt forward with a burst of acceleration, disappearing into the black of space. A few seconds later, the big ships activated their own hyperdrives and vanished into the swirling void as well.


End file.
